


More than a Broken Heart

by insanity_times_ten



Series: SIX oneshots [2]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Cancer, Fluff But Make It Sad, Gen, Sad, Sad Fluff, sad family fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24870784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insanity_times_ten/pseuds/insanity_times_ten
Summary: Cathy Parr relies on her Aunt Catherine for everything, but her world is turned on its head soon enough.
Relationships: Catherine of Aragon & Catherine Parr
Series: SIX oneshots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1938562
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	More than a Broken Heart

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! sorry i’ve been inactive lately, i’m on vacation right now. i got the idea for this wandering through yellowstone today and had to jot it down.

“Aunt Catherine, I’m home!” Cathy yelled as she walked into the flat. There was no response. “Aunt Catherine?” Cathy searched for her aunt. As soon as she entered Catherine’s bedroom, though, she received an answer. Catherine was laying on the floor of her bedroom, as though she had fainted.  _Oh my god_ ,  Cathy thought.  _She’s unconscious_.

Cathy pulled her phone out of her purse and called 999. “Hello? I need an ambulance, quickly please...23 Second Street, flat 4B...no, she’s fainted on the floor...she is breathing, I don’t know how well...no, not that I know of...thank you.” She turned to her aunt’s limp body. “Hang in there, help is coming.”

At the hospital, the doctors and nurses did tests. Then they did a few scans. Just when Cathy thought the test-running was over, a nurse came in to draw blood. Catherine soon woke up, confused. “Cathy,  _mija_ , where am I? What is happening?” Catherine asked. 

“We’re at the hospital,  _tía_ .” Catherine smiled. She loved hearing her native Spanish. Cathy never bothered to learn much of the foreign language, but she did know a few words, mostly what Catherine taught her. 

After a few hours, mostly filled with Catherine muttering Spanish prayers under her breath, the doctor came into the room. “Ms...Aragon, is it?” Catherine nodded. “I have some bad news for you. The scans we took while you were still unconscious show that you have cancer, I’m assuming it to be Stage Four, seeing how far it’s spread...”

“Cancer?” Cathy interrupted. “Is there anything you can do?”

“I’m afraid there isn’t much I can do, miss. Not with how far it’s progressed.”

“How long?” Catherine asked, still unsure how to react.

“The prognosis is quite grim, I’m afraid. The best-case scenario is around 2 months.” Cathy noted that the doctor repeated himself quite a bit, almost like he was nervous.

Catherine turned to her niece. “I will get through this,  _mija_ . Don’t worry about me.”

When Cathy returned to the flat that night, without Catherine, who was staying overnight at the hospital, she sat down at her computer and typed up an email to her professors. She felt like they should know. 

One morning, about 2 weeks after Catherine was diagnosed, Cathy got a call during her creative writing class. “Hello?”

“Hello, Miss Parr? Your aunt was brought into the hospital. She’s conscious but fading pretty quickly. You should probably come in, the doctors aren’t sure how long she’ll last.”

Oh no. “Ok. I’ll be right there, I’m walking out of a class right now.” She looked to her professor. “I’ve gotta go. It’s my aunt.” The professor gave her a sympathetic nod, and she sprinted out of the classroom.

Once at the hospital, she was directed toward Catherine’s room. Her aunt was laying in the hospital bed, pale as a sheet, which was impressive, seeing as Catherine was usually quite tan. The older woman attempted to sit up, but gave in after a bit of struggle. 

“Aunt Catherine? How’re you doing?”

“Cathy? _Mija_ , what are you doing here? Don’t you have classes today?”

“You’re more important. And my professors all know what’s going on. Do you want to watch TV?”

“I’ve watched every channel this hospital has. Talk to me. I haven’t seen you in ages.”

_You just saw me this morning_ ,  Cathy thought, but decided it would be wise not to go down that road right now. “Ok, well, my manuscript is over ten thousand words now. Do you remember me telling you about my book?” Catherine shook her head no. “I think you’d like it. It’s about two teenagers who meet online and talk to each other about anything and everything. Then, one day they decide to meet in person and they realize that they were best friends in elementary school until one of them moved away.”

Catherine took a shuddering breath in. “That sounds lovely. What else?”

“Umm...”

“It’s ok if you can’t think of anything. You like to sing, right?” Cathy nodded. “Could you sing me a song, maybe? Anything you want to sing.”

Cathy smiled. “Of course.” So, she sang a few songs, mostly lullabies she remembered from when she was little, until Catherine grabbed her wrist. “What’s wrong?”

“It hurts, Cathy. Will you hold my hands?”

Cathy could feel her eyes welling up with tears. “Yes. Would you like me to keep singing as well?” she choked, trying not to show her aunt the tears. 

“Please do. Do you remember when I would take you to Mass, when you were a little girl?” Cathy smiled a bit through the tears and nodded. “Could you sing me a hymn, if you remember any?”

“Ye-“ Cathy croaked, then cleared her throat. “Of course I will,” she tried again. “I can think of one right now, but I can’t remember any of the verses.”

“That’s ok. I want to hear whatever you can remember.”

So, Cathy started singing. The song, or at least what Cathy remembered, went something like this:

“ _And he will lift you up on eagle’s wings,_

_bear you on the breath of dawn,_

_make you to shine like the sun,_

_and hold you in the palm of his hand_.”

Catherine smiled, although it looked more like a grimace. Her breathing was becoming more labored every second. “That’s one of my favorites. Would you maybe sing it again?”

Cathy nodded, although she could feel her throat closing up. She sang those four lines once again, and the tears streamed down her cheeks. Again, and Catherine seemed to drift off to sleep. Cathy sang once more, even though her throat seemed to be closing in on itself even more, and Catherine woke only to whisper two words to her niece:

“Thank you.”

And with that, she flickered away. Cathy sat down, in shock. Once it finally caught up to her what had happened, she began crying into her hands, inconsolable. 

Late that night, Cathy did all she could think to do. She wrote. 

_In the late morning of Wednesday, January 30, Catherine Isobel Aragon succumbed to Stage IV cancer at the age of 42. She was preceded in death by her mother, Isabella, father, Ferdinand, an infant brother, stepsister, Maud Green, brother-in-law, Thomas Parr, and nephew, Joshua Parr. She is survived only by her niece, Catherine “Cathy” Parr._

_Catherine was born in Barcelona, Spain, on July 19, 1978, to Ferdinand and Isabella Aragon. She was baptized a Catholic as an infant. Her childhood was filled with happiness and she was excited to become a big sister. Sadly, her mother passed during childbirth, and her brother, who was to be named Andrew, soon followed Isabella._

_Ferdinand remarried and moved the family to London. Catherine was overjoyed to have an older stepsister. She was once again happy, and she welcomed her niece, Cathy, in 1999, and nephew, Joshua, in 2003._

_Three years later, Maud, her husband Thomas, and Joshua, were killed in a car accident, and Catherine became like a mother to seven-year-old Cathy._

_Catherine was known by her friends to be independent, funny, honest, and caring to the very end. She loved to travel, and she was always the first person her friends came to with all their joys and sorrows. Catherine will be greatly missed by all._

_Funeral information will be released at a later date._

Not knowing what else to do, she kept writing. 

_Tía Catherine-_

Cathy paused. This wasn’t something she’d done before. She didn’t know how to continue or if she should stop. 

She took a breath. 

_Tía Catherine-_

_Who would have guessed that the quiet little girl in flat 4B would find her voice? That the bookworm down the hall would be writing a book of her own? You did._

_You were my rock, my light, my inspiration. I couldn’t have done anything without you. You were the mother I didn’t have. You were there when I needed you. I can’t begin to imagine what I would have become without you cheering me on every step of the way._

_If you were here, you would ask me how I feel. So, how do I feel? I feel hurt. Sad. Lost. I feel like I have lost part of myself. It feels like more than a broken heart. It feels like a broken soul, a broken mind, a broken person._

_I don’t believe in God, not as much as you did, at least. But I do believe there is something out there. Something bigger than us. I believe we will meet again someday._

_I have so many questions. Where do I go from here? Who do I talk to? When will this feel normal? What do I do now that you’re not with me? How can I go on?_

_I told your friends. They said that if I needed to talk, they would be there. I feel like I don’t need to talk. I want to, though. I just don’t know what to say._

_I’m not mad that you left me. I know you were tired. I know you were hurting. I know you didn’t want to leave. You wanted to see the world, to see me succeed, get married, have kids._

_You never got to see Italy. I plan to go there when I graduate. You never had kids. I plan to name my eldest daughter Isobel, after you. You never got to live half of your life. I won’t throw mine away._

_I love you more than you’ll ever know._

_Signed,_

_your Cathy_

_Catherine Mae “Cathy” Parr_

Cathy smiled. Catherine would be proud of her. She stood and pulled out her phone. She tapped around for a little while, until she found what she was looking for. 

She knelt down beside her bed and looked down at her phone. She made the sign of the cross, just as Catherine had taught her. Then, she began to pray the Hail Mary, Catherine’s favorite prayer- in Spanish. 

**Author's Note:**

> me: *is american*  
> also me:*writes story set in london even though i have no clue how England operates*
> 
> also, i don’t expect any of you to know that hymn, it just reminded me of growing up in the Catholic church.


End file.
